Traffic on DND Flyway affected for two hours as political parties make beeline to Hathras

The heavy police presence at the Uttar Pradesh borders with Delhi in view of the attempts by political parties to reach the home of the Hathras rape victim created

The heavy police presence at the Uttar Pradesh borders with Delhi in view of the attempts by political parties to reach the home of the Hathras rape victim created a traffic snarl trapping commuters for more than two hours at least.

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Scores of Congress workers had gathered at the DND Flyway in support of their leaders, Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, who heading to the victim’s village on Saturday afternoon.

Traffic police first blocked five lanes on Delhi-Noida side of the Flyway at noon.

“Traffic on DND is heavy. Those heading to Noida are advised to take Akshardham route,” Delhi Traffic Police tweeted at 1:49 pm.

However, from 3pm, when Rahul and Priyanka were at the border, the Flyway was completely blocked. Over 500 Noida police personnel were deployed at the Flyway, creating a security wall at the toll plaza. Traffic, which was till then moving slowly, came to a complete standstill with a jam up to a kilometer-long.

Gaurav Kumar, a commuter, was forced to park his car on the road. “I was going to Noida Sector 62 but was caught in the jam. Noida traffic police should have made prior arrangements to avoid inconvenience to commuters,” he said.

Several buses and goods carriers were also stuck in the traffic jam. Police personnel managed to make way for the ambulances managed to make a way for two Noida-bound ambulances that were stuck for 15 minutes there.

Ganesh Prasad Saha, deputy commissioner of police, (traffic) Noida said that the large gathering of people at the DND Flyway restricted traffic.

“We had diverted the Delhi bound traffic to Kalindi Kunj and Noida Entry gate. The Noida bound traffic was also diverted by Delhi police. However, some people were stuck in traffic jam. We opened the DND Flyway at 5:15 pm, about 15 minutes after the Congress convoy passed,” he said.

Saha said that the Noida traffic police did not report traffic related incidents or violations at DND Flyway on Saturday.